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Men’s tennis sweeps weekend duals
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The No. 27-ranked Bronco men’s tennis team is on a mission to return to the higher ranking they began the season with. The Broncos helped their cause by winning all three duals they
hosted at the Appleton Tennis Center this weekend.
They started off strong on Friday against Pacific University by sweeping the doubles points.
Eric Roberson and Blake Boswell beat Moritz Starke and Vegard Veskimagi (8-6) to start the weekend. Stanley Sarapanich and Steve Robertson then defeated Alan Kelly and Pedro Toledo (8-4) while Brent Werbeck and Piotr Dilaj
won 8-4 over Robert Price and Ahad Ebrahim.
The Broncos also won all of their singles matches against Pacific, winning five of six matches in straight sets and completing the sweep 7-0.
Moving into Saturday the University of Idaho was the Broncos’ next victim. Complete with another 7-0 sweep, the Broncos won all six of their singles matches and two of the three doubles matches to get the doubles points.
In the singles matches Piotr Dilaj bested Stanislav Glukhav (6-1, 1-6, 6-4) to keep the winning steak for BSU alive. Steve Robertson followed up with a big win over John Hieb (6-1, 6-1) and Eric Roberson defeated Rob Chalkly (6-4, 6-3).
BSU’s second competitor on Saturday was University of New Mexico. This rivalry provided an exciting match that the Broncos would eventually prevail in 4-3.
BSU began the match by again sweeping the doubles points. Luke Shields and Stanley Sarapanich defeated Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski 8-5. Steve Robertson and Clancy Shields beat Chris and Johnny Parks 9-7 and Blake Boswell and Eric Roberson rounded it out by besting Miles Bugby and Graeme Kassautski 8-6.
“Doubles points are everything,” BSU Head Coach Greg Patton said. “If we lose a double point we lose our match today. Doubles matches are a key for us.”
In the singles matches there was a split. Luke Shields beat Jones in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) to put the Broncos further out in front of the Lobos.
Clancy Shields knocked off Kassautski (6-4, 6-2) in the second match and Robertson quickly bested Pajkowski (6-1, 6-0) in the third. The other three matches all resulted in defeat for the Broncos, but they were all decided in the third set.
“Overall, this match was fun,” Clancy Shields said. “We had a really good crowd, which was the highlight for me. We’ve been on the road all the time so far this season, so being at home gave us energy and the desire to do well. We fed off of it.”
Coach Patton said he was also grateful for the turnout for this particular match.
“This was a big match because New Mexico has always been a rival for us,” Patton said. “We always kind of battle it out. It was an epic dual for me. The crowd was great. And having the basketball team here right after their competition in the WAC Championships was really great to see.”
The Broncos are heading to the Blue Gray tournament in Alabama next weekend and Patton says that’s going to be a definitive competition for them.
“The Blue Gray’s our shot because the seventh, 18th, 22nd, 23rd and 25th-ranked teams will be there,” Patton said. “That means five teams that are ahead of us in the rankings. There are also eight teams in the top 30 and thirteen in the top 50. We get some wins there we can climb up the ladder.”
MICHELLE MILLIKEN
Sports Writer
